1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighting apparatus and more particularly to improved lampholder structures for aisle lighting apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Low-voltage string-lighting systems have been used extensively for decorating both private homes and commercial establishments. String-lighting systems are ideal for decoration because they can be displayed in various places and in nearly every imaginable form. For example, low-voltage string-lighting systems are often used to decorate walls, floors, ceilings, and staircases, of restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, and movie theaters. One of the more common commercial uses of string-lighting systems is aisle lighting in movie theatres, where a string of lights is placed down each side of an aisle.
A typical low-voltage string-lighting system, such as those used for aisle lighting, includes a power line having multiple light fixtures attached thereto (hereinafter a "light string"), an external housing made of a durable material such as vinyl or aluminum, and an external covering which is translucent and generally fits within the housing. The external housing is typically manufactured by an extrusion process and is commonly referred to in the lighting industry as a floor extrusion.
A single light string in a common string-lighting system may include dozens of individual light bulbs. Assembly of such lamp strings and replacement of burned out lamps is thus highly labor intensive and has led to efforts to simplify lampholder structures to reduce part counts and speed light string assembly. A result of such efforts is the lampholder structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,981 assigned to the present assignee. That structure includes a lamp socket which slideably mounts onto guide rails of a carriage component. The carriage component includes lateral side slots which receive respective conducting wires and further slideably inserts into a base component. Insertion of the carriage component into the base component forces electrical contact elements on the side of the carriage to penetrate into and establish electrical contact with the conducting wires.
Although providing considerable improvement, assembly of the foregoing structure still requires a considerable number of intricate manual manipulations of its several parts. Additionally, the structure is not ideally suited for use with light emitting diodes (LED's), which are presently coming into use because of their lower power requirements and longer life.